National Affairs: Al Smith's Friend's Firm

When William Marcy Tweed bossed Tammany Hall and New York City,
political livelihoods were made by out-&-out peculation. Boss Charles
Francis Murphy brought the city contract racket to its juiciest
fruition. But fashions in municipal graft change. Nowadays Tammany
feeds largely on the real estate and building businesses. How it is
done was clearly illustrated last week by Inquisitor Samuel Seabury to
the eight-month-old Republican-controlled Legislative investigation
of New York City's administration.

In 1924 Alfred Emanuel Smith wanted to wash behind
Tammany's ears, make it presentable so that it would not embarrass
him when...